"Bruce B" wrote in message
...
| I was installing a receiver hitch and the bolt holes didn't quite line
| up. The retailer advised me to check the alignment of the brackets that
| bolt on to the frame and the passenger side bracket was bent in a
| little. So with some effort I managed to bend it back mostly straight
| and get the hitch installed. My question is would this minor bending
| weaken the metal or the welded joints? It's a Draw-Tite hitch and I
| think it's 1/4" plate steel brackets. How much can you bend something
| like that without negatively affecting the structural properties?
|
| TIA

That concerns me that you, with effort, could bend a hitch frame.
However, whether or not that's a bad thing depends on how much of what you
bent, or preloaded, is in the critical load path.